Betty Murungi

Betty Murungi Director of Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF)

"UAF’s goal in Africa is to join with local activists to help provide the tools that are needed toinfluence policy on behalf of women’s human rights.A lawyer in private practice in Kenya for 17 years, Ms. Murungi was the chair of the Executive Committee of the Women's Caucus for Gender Justice for an International Criminal Court and iscurrently on the Board of Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice (WIGJ). She is a member ofthe Board of East African Centre for Constitutional Development and the Law Society of Kenya. Ms. Murungi is also a representative on the board of the Public Law Institute. Since 1998, Ms.Murungi has been a consultant and legal advisor to Rights & Democracy on gender-relatedcrimes at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). In 2003, she was awarded the Kenya National Honour of the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear for her work on humanrights issues."

"Murungi has served as Director of Urgent Action Fund-Africa since its formation in 2001. Since 1998, she has also served as legal advisor to the Women's Human Rights Program at Rights and Democracy, Montreal, Canada. As a member of the NGO Coalition for an International Criminal Court (CICC), Betty and others advocated extensively for the inclusion of a gender perspective in the establishment of the International Criminal Court and in the work of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She serves on the board of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, the Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice at the International Criminal Court (Den Haag) and is a past board member of The Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya. Betty is a lawyer by profession and has extensive experience in the human rights of women, gender and governance. In December 2003, the President of Kenya awarded her the National honor: The Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (MBS) for her work in Human Rights."


 * Former Visiting Fellow, Human Rights Program: Former Visiting Fellows